Even though we were a few months into the child sponsorship journey with Compassion (researching the organization, praying about sponsoring a child, and then finally sponsoring two children) there was still a piece of me that had felt distant from the process.

Yes, we’ve enjoyed researching our kids’ homelands online.

Yes, we love seeing their pictures hanging on our fridge.

Yes, we pray for them each day.

But to be completely honest, it was still hard to feel that personal connection because there had been no communication between us.

Until now.

This month, we received letters from both of our sponsored children! I don’t know if I can fully express the joy my children and I shared when we found that first letter in our mailbox.

As soon as we opened it, Gabrielle ceased to be a name on the Internet or simply a picture on the fridge … she became real to us in that moment.

When you receive that first letter, you cannot deny that the money you are sending and the prayers you are lifting up are tangibly changing a child’s life!

My daughter, Kariss, immediately wanted to write back to Gabrielle, answering all of her questions and sharing all about our family life.

We initially tried to do so online, but had trouble with the process of choosing our stationery. So we opted for the paper stationery provided with the letter we had received. (Later we contacted Compassion’s Web Support team and learned that we had simply missed the Continue button on Compassion’s website! If you’ve had difficulty writing your own letters, don’t get discouraged. Contact Web Support to walk you through the process!)

At first, Kariss didn’t know where to start. After all, it can be a daunting task to share your entire 8-year-old life with someone you’ve never met who lives halfway around the world!

So I told her to start with Hello.

After all, don’t we all feel better after someone says hello?

From there, Kariss wrote out her full name and what it means. She talked about her family and what she likes to do after school. She described our home and how much she likes to draw.

Basically, all the important information an 8-year-old can think of, she put in that letter.

And it was honest.

After Hello, she didn’t have to think, ponder or plan … she just wrote.

I pray this is the first of many letters over the years that Kariss and Gabrielle will share. Even more so, I pray that Kariss’ dream of meeting Gabrielle in person ultimately comes true.

But for now, I find joy and contentment in knowing that the simple act of writing a letter while sitting in Nashville, Tenn. is making a world of difference to a little girl somewhere in Brazil.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sami Cone is a published author and seminar speaker who draws on her life experiences to help women realize their full potential. You can keep up with Sami, her family and her frugal adventures on Twitter and Facebook.

I believe all of us have a new appreciation of waiting for the mail once we become sponsors. There is joy in finding a Compassion cream colored envelope! My daughter also will write to her correspondent kids right away when she receives a letter from one of them. The technology is great that we can send online letters, but I love the fact that we can still send a handwritten letter. In our fast paced world, I love that we can slow down enough and take the time to thoughtfully plan out our words to these kids to encourage them and let them know how important they are in our lives.